08/01/2023
As Received
For: Lt Gen [retd] Ali Kuli Khan.
Dear Gen Ali. AoA.
I hope you are very well.
I understand that you are heading an organization of retired army personnel. It is in this connection that I am writing to you, while I also had occasion to write to Gen Amjad Shuaib.
Too many retired army officers have thousands of questions to ask. The answers they receive are from myriad sources. The authenticity of such answers is suspect. Thus they give rise to more speculation and create more confusion and demoralization.
Some of the officers want to reach Gen Asim in order to get answers to questions which bother them. But no one knows of an avenue to get to the Chief, and all are certain that their letters won't get to him. So there was a suggestion that they send their questions to you and to Gen Shuaib, and you consolidate the same and send them to Gen Asim with the hope that he will find a way to address them. At the very least the Gen may read them and that will allow the main concerns of thousands to register with him. Even that may be beneficial. But the hope essentially is that because of your rank and also because you represent so many in the ranks of the retired, courtesy may be extended to you, which lesser ranks do not expect to receive.
The broad sweep of questions, and suggestions have been repeated so often that these are pretty well known. I am therefore attempting to put them in some order and sending them to you. These could form a framework for any additional questions that may come your way.
The following are the questions most assiduously being asked, and suggestions most sincerely being proffered. I have merely collected and collated them, and put them in a more coherent form, for onward submission
1. Gen Asim has promised that his foremost task is to rehabilitate the image of the army. This expresses a sentiment which has found great welcome. But it has raised the question: "will the image of the army be rebuilt by brushing up a narrative or by actions?"
If it is to rely on a narrative, it will do more harm than good. Reinforcing a failure only enlarges a disaster. The only real measure of the hit the army's reputation has taken may be gathered from the fact that for 75 years a huge majority of our civilian brethren have believed that it was the army which was keeping the country together. But over the last eight months this myth has been blown to smithereens. It now transpires that behind the scenes the army was promoting every ill that we find ourselves saddled with. This is also the view of the rank and file, both serving and retired. This is not a good position to be in.
So all eyes are therefore trained on the actions Gen Asim is going to take.
2. Does the Army High Command [AHC] feel somehow compelled to follow Gen Bajwa's legacy, or is there an awareness of how besmirched this legacy is and that therefore the AHC is fully committed to make a clean breast of it? The following questions are creating a lot of concern and need honest answers:
a. Was there an army hand behind the assassination attempt on Imran Khan and the murder of Arshad Sharif?
b.Very few doubt that Azam Swati was the victim of the AHC desire to teach him a lesson when he was meted out the treatment the first time around. But what of his shifting from Baluchistan to Sindh? Was the AHC behind this? And is it involved in the continuing harassment of that part of the press which is supportive of Imran Khan?
c. What has been the role of the army in procuring clean chits for every major thief of the country?
3. Another major issue regarding Bajwa's legacy under discussion is the merit of senior officers he has promoted and filled the decks with, thus tying Gen Asim's hands and considerably restricting his room for maneouver. But it is a difficult issue to debate merit of the promotees objectively because their records on paper have very little to tell them apart. However the intent of Gen Bajwa in such matters can be commented upo by taking an example of an officer he chose to head the AWT. This officer was a friend of Bajwa's. He was universally detested by every coursemate of his. As a divisional commander, he was removed from command on the grounds that he was unfit for command. He was not cleared by his commander for promotion to LT Gen. He acquired a well earned reputation for corruption well before this became the norm, and it was known that his house was a gift from a building contractor. And when Bajwa picked him to run an organization like the Army Welfare Trust, Bajwa could well be asked what was it that he was rewarding this scounrel for? Ulimately the placement of this officer was a statement of his intent for much that he later did to the country as much as it was also one of where merit stood with him. And if this case was any standard to go by, one may only shudder at the thought of the wounds Bajwa may have inflicted upon the army with the promotions he made. In light of the foregoing there ae many questions being asked of Gen Asim as to how does he plan to proceed with such promotions Bajwa may have made.
4. National security has primarily been the army's responsibility since the inception of the country. Is the AHC aware that more lethal than a physical attack across borders is economic attack against the country? And if it is aware of this, is it also aware that a very important part of the economic war against the country involves the hollowing out of the treasury of the country by its own elites who have the power to do so? If this is so, is there a mechanism in place to monitor this aspect of the war being waged against the state? And if not, why not?
5.Pakistan was barely getting out of its economic woes in 2021. But after operation regime change there has been a change in direction, and now no one denies we are near the brink. Is the army aware of the fact that we are near default, and what will be its implications for the country? If it is aware of this, what is it doing about it?
6. For years now, it has been a matter of pride for the rank and file that even if there have been a few bad eggs in the army's higher ranks, our Gens have by and large been clean. This was one assumption among the rank and file on the basis of which they occupied the moral high ground. But after the publication of Bajwa's family assets this moral high ground has been taken out from under the feet of the rank and file. They frankly find themselves sunk. And they KNOW they will have to sink more because it is a point of faith with them that what has appeared about Bajwa is only the tip of the iceberg. The entirety of the iceberg has yet to reveal itself. So what is the position of the AHC on Bajwa's assets? To put it quite simply, does the AHC consider Bajwa to have amassed his wealth by using his office or not? And does the AHC consider him to be an example of corruption in its higher ranks? And if not, how does the AHC plan to deal with a Maj or Capt who tomorrow goes and holds up a bank?
7.. A very large majority believes that Bajwa brought about regime change at the behest of foreign powers? What is the army's determination on this? Has the AHC any plans to find out if this is true or not? And if not, why not? And will ignoring this issue not amount to dereliction of its prime duty as far as national security is concerned?
8. No one can deny that Pakistan is being buffeted by huge political instability today. It can also not be denied that this political instability is the direct result of operation regime change, which was brought about directly by the army high command. If the present AHC denies this, it can only mean that they are committed to digging deeper the hole in which their predecessors left them. To get themselves out of this hole therefore, it is the need of the hour that they begin by telling the truth to themselves. And once they admit that it was the erstwhile officers who formed the AHC which committed the sin of pushing the country to the edge where it teeters today, they will find themselves very near to repairing the damage done to the country. And this they can achieve by using their considerable heft to force immediate elections and ensure that these will be fairly conducted. And the political instability being an issue of the utmost significance for national security, they will be wiel within their remit in pushing for this. If they can do just this, they will have done a lot to salvage their country. This is very simple to do. All it requires is the courage to see the truth. All the rest should logically follow.
I have just tabulated above the major questions most avidly being debated, without any letup in the debate. The smaller questions are too many to be listed. If you can reach out to the ranks of the retired and ask if they need to add to the above list, that will be good. Indeed, you may already by memory some of these questions which you could add to the above.
However you proceed, I think it is extremely important for the army high command to know what is agitating the minds of their retired collegues, because the minds of those serving could not possibly be too different.
Yours most sincerely.
Saeed. A Malik.
